Italy - Monday 4th June

We woke to the sound of pouring rain :(, but we weren't too disappointed as we were going to be driving all morning anyway. Yummy breaky of scrambled eggs and more asparagus (love the self-catering!)

We were soon back on the road heading inland to Florence, being economical we were trying to avoid toll roads where ever possible, mainly by entering in our destination on the sat nav and requesting that we don't pay tolls. This is all good in theory, except when you get to a road that is completely closed due to roadwork's and the sat nav have plonked you in the middle of nowhere. So we bit the bullet and hit the toll toad after unsuccessfully trying to cross a river with no road….

Italian drivers are mental I think that's common knowledge, but the way that they approach difficult driving conditions is also amazing. So the rain was getting heavier, it was what you would call torrential, interspersed with hail, coupled with the fact that Italian motorways don't seem to have a drainage system (there could be a job for life for you James), yet they still insist on going 20 miles above the speed limit. Which meant that Hamish felt he could too. Some harsh words were spoken, and Lou started getting cramp in her calf from applying the imaginary brake, but we made it out alive. 

Luckily it brightened up for our entry into Florence. We had high expectations for this city, a lot of our friends had raved about it so we were keen to get out of the car and get exploring. Finding parking was the first hurdle. As these medieval cities have such narrow roads, parking is at a premium so we found this underground place where you give your keys to this guy and he drives your car away to god knows where (and they had those lifts for parking cars on top of each other that they had in HK).

By the time we got out we were pretty dark, but we found our way to the Duomo which was pretty cool. Haven't seen a church like that before, construction started in 1296 but it wasn't completed until 1436, meaning that they architectural styles are a bit mish mash. We went inside but didn't get up the bell tower, the inside wasn't as cool as the outside we thought but still pretty incredible. We popped into a little café for lunch, salad again for Lou and panini for Hamish, and then wandered through the old part of town.

Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and the political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, and numerous religious and republican revolutions, and there were numerous references to the Medici family throughout the city. Lou was pretty excited about this as it brought back all the facts she had rote learned for her Bursary Art History exam almost 10 years ago.

We found ourselves in the Palazzo Vecchio, which has a copy of Michelangelo's David in the middle of a fountain, which was nice as the museum that houses the original (also in Florence) was closed on Mondays. From there we strolled down to the River Arno which cuts the city in half. Historically, the locals have had a love-hate relationship with the Arno – which alternated between nourishing the city with commerce, and destroying it by flood. The most interesting part of this part of town is the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), with the multitude of shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts. It is the only bridge in the city to have survived World War II intact, and almost every shop on the bridge is a gold jewellery shop (and Lou still didn't get a present).

Overall, I think we were expecting a bit more from Florence, is was pretty but we didn't think the hype lived up to expectation.

We collected our car and paid an extortionate amount for the 2 hours we parked and got out of Florence to experience some Tuscan countryside. Lou had obviously done her research and found this cute little B&B about an hour out of Florence (between Florence and Siena), there were so many to choose from but the thing that made the choice obvious was the name – Locale La Bandita. Yup, the Italian Bandits lived here.

All expectations were realised when we pulled up the little gravel drive surrounded by orange, lemon and olive trees. The house was gorgeous, it had about 5 rooms all with balconies overlooking the grounds. Our host was this cute old Italian woman who was so lovely with her pigeon English. There was a tiny wee dining room by the entrance and she said that "dinner is served around 7.30pm, or 8pm" really casual, and Lou spotted the handwritten menu (all in Italian) that showed the prices were really cheap which was promising.

Considering it was only about 5pm and we were starving we concocted a plan where we would go to the local village and buy some nibbles and then save money by just having a main course in the restaurant. As frequent readers will know, one of Lou's favourite things to do on holiday is to go to foreign supermarkets and wander the aisles, so from our expedition we got Limoncello, cheese, olives, antipasto, prosciutto, and crackers – a right feast. As usual we ate too much and when we got round to 8pm we were pretty full, and typically Hamish didn't like the limoncello which meant Lou had to drink his, making Lou rather tipsy.

So, we were greeted by the young waitress who couldn't speak a word of English, and we played the Russian roulette of foreign menus, randomly picking 2 pasta dishes and 2 mains (we thought they might be miniscule portions as they were so cheap). Lou also ordered a half litre jug of the local house wine as it was criminal not to at a grand total of 5 Euros.

We were served up a complimentary antipasto of bruschetta, with mozzarella wrapped in pancetta, which is delicious, followed by the pasta course. Lou had home-made ravioli stuffed with pecorino cheese in an asparagus sauce, and Hamish had the ravioli with some kind of meat ragu that I think was rabbit. It was simply divine, home-made pasta is the way forward, so yummy. Lou had a brilliantly cooked steak with a mustard sauce, and Hamish had a pork fillet wrapped in pancetta, with a huge bowl of rosemary roasted potatoes and a bowl of salad with so many different types of lettuces, leaves and herbs fresh from the garden. Every mouthful was amazing. As with every meal, home-made bread was served with their own olive oil which was the best olive oil I have ever had. And at a grand total of 50 euros for whole meal, it was an absolute steal.

We were so full we couldn't manage desert and it was a good thing that the bed was just upstairs as moving was proving difficult. What a stunning night – so nice to be able to do a toast for Dad's 60th as well!

Highlight: Definitely the dinner and the night at the B&B, so highly recommended!
Lowlight: Getting into Florence and getting our bearings in the city, and I guess Florence not living up to the hype.
Interesting Fact: Tuscany is regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some many influential people in the history of arts and science, such as Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, da Vinci, Galilei, and Puccini.